A tax office in South Tyneside is set to close its doors next month, moving more than 600 jobs out of the borough.

The Inland Revenue office at the old Reyrolle building in Hebburn is to close on March 23, even though it is renting the site until June 2006.

Just over 300 staff will be relocated to offices in Longbenton, while 300 staff on fixed-term contracts will be dismissed. They are among 1,200 civil servants on Tyneside who will lose their jobs after a programme to collect unpaid National Insurance came to an end.

As the Chronicle reported on Thursday, the staff, including almost 1,000 based at Longbenton in Newcastle, were on six-month rolling contracts which had been renewed for the last two years.

One worker said: "It is a real kick in the teeth. They said they haven't got the funding but they are running an advertising campaign for call centre staff. Rather than dismiss the staff coming to the end of their contracts they should retrain us for the new jobs."

An Inland Revenue spokesman said the site would close in March but it would be kept for contingency purposes until 2006.